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Abstract
The replanting of trees and other high water use perennial plant options has been the
major focus of dryland salinity management in recent times. Hydrologists have
indicated that unless these options are taken up on a very large scale, little can be
done to control ongoing land salinisation in southern Australia. The scale of the
problem is further exacerbated with very few economic options for salinity
management in low rainfall agricultural environments (< 350mm/year) which in
Western Australia includes 40-50% of our agricultural areas.
Phase farming with lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) is an increasingly noted option for
dryland salinity management in Australia. The benefits of phase farming systems with
lucerne is currently considered to offer both hydrologic and economic benefits for
sustainable farming systems. In many areas it may be profitable to change farming
systems in order to achieve recharge reductions and therefore manage salinity at a
local scale- suggested to be possible in up to 30% of the agricultural landscape in
Western Australia (Pannell et al., 2001).
Our aims in this paper are (a) to review the advantages and disadvantages of lucerne
management, (b) to present results from a case study of lucerne in south-west Western
Australia by Bathgate and Pannell (2001) and (c) to assess the relevance of the case
study findings for environments with lower annual rainfall.